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Below is a complete list of American products that contain ethylene glycol in varying amounts. It comes from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

We know that ethylene glycol in car antifreeze is extremely toxic to cats and cats like the taste. This chemical is a cat killer and it acts fast. It causes kidney failure.

A recent story about a man in Canada who bought a waterproofing product for his chimney made me think about what other products might contain this chemical. I discovered that the list is very long indeed.

He applied the waterproofing material to his chimney with a brush. When finished, he rinsed the brush in water and chucked the water onto his driveway. His cat, Gus, wandered up and drank some of it. Within 9 hours he was dead. It is not known for sure that the ethylene gylcol in the product killed his cat but his vet believes it is the reason and it certainly looks like it.

Moral: if you care for a cat, disposing of household products that contain ethylene glycol should be done with care and brushes etc. should be cleaned carefully.

Warning: This page is not an invitation to cat abusers and haters to research how they can kill a cat. Leave cats alone, please.

On your keyboard depress Ctrl + F (Cmd + F on a Mac) simultaneously. A small search box appears bottom left of the screen or top right (in Chrome browser). Enter the product you are searching for in the box and it will be highlighted on the database. Reduce the search term to a more general term if you need to. This is to avoid a mismatch when the product has several different names or the product name has been entered incorrectly.

Comments

I knew about car care items, herbicides & household repair items. What surprised me were Ink cartridges, shoe polish, furniture finishes, paint, diaper ointment & shaving gel. The first three items are usually not accessible to pets. Paints pose a problem in that some cats like to scratch door frames and corners and could eat the chips that fall. The last two items are usually left out to be easily used on a daily basis–the lid could be left off the ointment or loose, and my husband always leaves dribs and drabs of shaving gel on the side of the can. My children are all grown, so ointment is not a problem, but I will be sure to put away the shaving gel.

Me too. I was very surprised at the list and the products. Ethylene glycol is everywhere and it is a real danger to cats. We don’t know how many cats have been hurt by this chemical. It is possible that the increase in feline kidney disease in the US and I believe in Europe is in part due to the presence of this chemical in many household products.

Label reading is more than a fulltime job, but it has to be done.
I’ve had and I have some of these products. There’s no way around it when there is a definite need and no all natural alternatives are available.

Ethylene Glycol is a widely used toxin but not the only one in products. It’s maddening trying to find the least harmful ones. I feel forced to decide what maladies I would prefer for myself and my cats, ie. kidney shutdown, liver failure, brain damage, asphyxiation, or cancer if exposure happened.

All we can do is to use extreme caution to protect ourselves and our cats and only use these products when it’s absolutely necessary.

Wow, a very detailed list. I think a lot of it should be out of reach of any creature to begin with. You’d think the smell would be off-putting to cats on many of these. Still an ounce of prevention… Awesome post Michael.